Railroad fusee



Dec. 3, 1946. .1. vnNToN E-r AL RAILROAD FUS EE Filed Sept.' 20, 1943 mVjENToR Doug/a5 Mac M//lan BY Jahn V/rnon ATTORNEY.

Patented Dec. 3, 1946 7.x,

STATES Parent oFFrolt? f RAILROAD FUsEEjy l A John Vinton', San Francisco;` and Douglas'Macv MillamerkcleygCalif.. i Application settantina 20, 1943*,1seria1zN. 503,074

aolaims. (01402-318) The invention relatesF vtoa fuseer or flare construction particularly adapted for signaling purposes in the operation. of railroads and of truc-ks.

Atypical prior art device of this character i shownin Patent 21,327,899;

hard to distinguish the fusee flame:` Torinsu-re.

that an oncoming train will not overrun the signallvseveral of them are usually employed in the hope that'at least one of ithem will be-seen. When itis-pointed out that the' fusee is usually thrownfrom a moving train after burning vhas been initiated the difficulty in placing the `fusee` where it is* readily visible will be further appreciated. -The material employed in the fusee burns with a hot iame.,A VAs a consequence it presents a very considerable hazard from a re protection standpoint; numerous grain, grass and forest. fires have been traced directly to the use of fusees. lizes a composition giving a smoke. signalwhich is readily visible in daylight and `which is nevertheless comparatively cool so that the iirev hazard is greatly reduced.l

wTo* insure adequate headway is maintained between trains it is desirable that the tusee or id are burn forl an extended period of time. The device of the. present invention utilizes a` minimum of combustible material to. provide a burning period of from eight to teni minutes..

`The general and broad obiectl of the present invention is to provide a. novel smoke fusee con.- structionand. composition.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a fusee construction enabling a minimum of Acombustible composition to be employed to provide a smoke fusee having a relatively long period of eiective smoke emission.

The invention includes other objects and features of advantage, some of which, together with the foregoing, will appear hereinafter wherein the present preferred form of device and composition of our invention are disclosed.

In the drawing accompanying and forming a part of this specification.

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of one form of fusee or are construction of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a side elevation ofthe device shown in Figure 1 partly cut away to illustrate the construction.

Figure 3 is a section taken along the line 3--3 in Figure 1.

Thef usee. of this invention uti.-

Referring to the drawing, thesignal device'- of the present invention comprises an outer container 6. This 'is' shown :as-cylindrical inl sec-l tion but it may assu-me any other tubular formi. The container includesA a bottom if vs hich-r can.' i'ffdesi'red, be provided with a spike` 8`or other support meansif desired. Thev upper end ofthe container 6 is closed by a cap H held in place by a U-sl`1aped adhesive strap l2 secured lover the cap and tothe container B. A frictiony starting element, indicated by numeral i3, is pro-i Vid'edfon the outside of the cap and is normallyl covered and? protected by the strap |2 Tnecon' tainer is filled with the smoke 'signalingfeorn-i f position 155, On--topof this is placed apellet' of tion of a suitable friction starting element-is? well known in the' art. I and various compositions can be employed successfully. We have futilizedl one comprising, by weight,*13'v parts' 'each' ofv ferrous sulphide and antimony trisul-phide; 21 parts of potassium nitrateand 3 parts of dextrin. 'I Y Y To use thed'evice, tape |42 isV broke, cap Il` is removed! andwad` IT lifted oif the `pellet I6. The capi isi then reversed! in position and its friction element is applied to the frictionpellet I6; caus ing ignition of the'pellet and of thefupper `Yend of `chemical composition'. As the"l pellet Vis' ignitedf. it fuses to the side of the'- container; sub-v stantially sealing the upper end; of the container, forcing the gases generated outl through the; several apertures 2| i'ntheside wallof the container, and permitting release of the colored,

gas. or vapor without ignition and-'without the gas or vapor ltravir-ig-V topass through va hot ash'.` Usually twoY opposite rowsof holes suffice;

In. the form of thedeviceillustrated",4 container lY includes apertures `2 l1 in its; sidewall with an outer cover wall 22 extending over the apertures. combustible material such as cellulose nitrate or cellulose acetate which burns away rapidly over each aperture as ignition travels down through the composition in the container. The cover can also be made of a material having a high ignition point such as paper or Cellophane. However, in this case, it is desirable that the area adjacent each aperture be treated with potassium chlorate or other combustion facllitating material to insure that each aperture is uncovered as the composition burns away.

By utilizing a container having smoke emission means which become eifective only when the burning composition is adjacent to them, We en- This cover is preferably made of a sult that at least some of the smoke is forced through the hot ash residue in the container. When this happens, undesirable chemical changes occur in the smoke, generally resultingrlin its Because of the difficulty insecurlosing color. ing an adhesive bonding satisfactorily to cellulose acetate or nitrate iilm, the cover wallis ordinar' ily stopped just short of the cap Il so thatthe strap l2 can be secured directly to the tube 6.

4 red can be varied; however, utilizing the materials in the ratio specied insures a deep red. The greater the quantity of rhodamine the deeper the red. I'

To make up a yellow smoke, we have also employed the following novel composition of our invention:

u Y Parts Coal tar 6 Aurimine` yellow O 6 Paranitro aniline yellow 6 Dextrine 6 Postassium chlorate 6 A short length of ash residue at the top of the tubeis not objectionable.

In place of using a separate cover on either the inside or outside of the container, the sidewall of the container can be selectively weakened or selected portions can be made to burn out asthe composition burns down in the container. The container 6 can be made of any suitable material. We have used paper successfully, rolling it into a tube and then perforating; if desired, the perforated tube can be unwound and the cover Wall material wound inl with the paper as an intermediate layer, the tube being then secured With asuitable adhesive.A Y

Inrpractice a signal v,of the form described will burn about 10 minutes when made with a V8 diameter tube 10 inches in length. We have found that the quantity of material in the tube can be decreased and the burning time increased by including aninert tubular member extending centrally in the container.y rI'hus inFigure 2 we have rshown central member 23-'extending centrallyof the container and spaced anv equal distance from each side of the container. By including the central member we have found that more smoke emission'is secured than when the same vquantity of composition is burned in Va smaller container but omitting the central member. In addition, the central member assists in retaining the fused ignition pellet and the composition ash or coal so that thegas is forced out through the apertures.

As a suitable signaling material one can employ any sutablesmoke compositions. We have had a considerable success, however, with compositions of our invention. To make up a, red signal we utilize the following materials in 4the following Weight proportions:

. v Parts Paranitro aniline red 28 Rhodamine 4 Potassium chloride 81/3 Dextrine 12 The quantity of rhodamine to paranitro aniline The coal tar should be of the grade which is easily ground and is quite brittle.

It is essential to a smoke composition that the material in the container B be in nely divided form and not packed so tightly that it is, in effect, in solid form in the container. If the material is too tightly packed or is Ain solid form, the gas emitted will becolorless, the gas will surge out and the burning time cannot be made uniform and, finally, an extended burning time of about six or more minutes cannot be secured from a small mass of composition. Y

This is a continuation in part of our application Serial No. 414,034, led October 7, 1941, by

us with Albert Paiva, Patent No. 2,398,545, issuedV April 16,1946. 1

We claim: 1. A fusee or flare consisting of an elongated tubular container y.having an open` end and an outer wall in'which are formed a plurality of spaced perforations-aJ porous colored gas evolving composition lling said container and adapted to burn therein for a substantialti'me period from one end to the other end of the container,

said composition forming asubstantially solid4 mass of ash upon ignition in said container, sealing off unburned composition from said end'and forcing gas evolved from the burningportion of said composition to Vissue through those perforatios adjacent to the burning portion, and a friction ignitable pellet positioned over said open container end, said pellet upon ignition inducing.

burning of said composition and sealing over said open end to force initial gas emission through the perforate side wall.

2. A device as in claim 1 wherein an outer cover of a combustible material is provided over the perforations in the container wall to burn away with the composition.

3. A device as in claim 1 wherein an outer cover of cellulose acetate is provided over the perforations in the container wall to burn away with the composition.

DOUGLAS MACMILLAN. 

